Of Orphans and Wolves
by cellorocksmyworld
Summary: Ted Lupin will never suffer as Harry Potter did, not knowing who his parents are and why they are gone. But he, too, will never know them. At least that's what he thought, until a spell goes awry and 16 year old Ted comes face to face with a familiar boy.


**Don't own nothin. Wish I did though. Bloody brilliant book.**

**Of Orphans and Wolves**

The duties of a godfather should have been easy in comparison to what Harry Potter had, in seventeen short years, endured. But as he held the little bundle that was Teddy Lupin in his arms for the first time, looking down into familiar golden brown eyes that lacked the weariness and grief their previous owner had borne, peeking out from under a shock of turquoise hair, the Man-Who-Endured (a new moniker the Daily Prophet had bestowed on him the day after Voldemort's downfall) was quite at a loss. No amount of bravery or clever wand-work could change the fact that this boy's parents were dead. In the aftermath of the battle, Harry had learned of the circumstances surrounding their murder from one of the many whose lives they had saved. He couldn't quite bring himself to be comforted by the knowledge that they had at least died together, holding hands even after the bitter end.

Harry had loved Nymphadora Tonks like an older sister. Clumsy, funny, and large of heart, he had never heard her make an unkind comment about anybody. Besides Death-Eaters and Voldemort and Remus when he was being stupid of course. It had only been a year since he had recovered from this affliction and finally let her into his heart, and less than a year since they had been married. He chuckled lightly as he remembered what Ron had whispered in his ear at Grimmauld Place the day Remus announced he was going to be a father – the same day Harry had said those awful, but necessary things: _Wow, they didn't waste any time did they? The honeymoon must have been fantastic._ Hermione would have been mortified, thinking of a former teacher in that way, but boys will be boys, and Harry and Ron had found it hilariously funny. Thinking again of Tonks, Harry was sure he would not be the only one subconsciously listening for large crashes and loud cursing that had always seemed to accompany her wherever she went. She would be missed by many.

Harry brushed angry tears from his eyes as he realized that the same thing could not be said for her husband. Though he had never been as close to Remus as he had been to Sirius, the boy who looked so much like his father had loved Lupin in his own right. Harry knew that events in the former Professor and Marauder's early life had prevented him from trusting people and opening his heart to them, but those who met him and did not immediately brand him with misguided prejudices had always taken a liking to his quiet, unassuming, but sometimes dryly humorous manner. Unfortunately, most of the wizarding world did immediately brand him with those misguided prejudices, and Harry knew that he would not be receiving anywhere near the same amount of respect as the other casualties of the War. Already, Harry was hearing people in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley discuss those who had fallen, and some voiced their theories that "the Lupin beast" had not been on Harry's side at all, but had rather been a spy for Voldemort. Under the Invisibility Cloak – which he had taken to wearing to avoid the open ogling and excessive handshaking that always accompanied public appearances – Harry had been unable to give that particular specimen of scum a piece of his mind, but the man did have quite an unfortunate run-in with a swarm of Cornish Pixies that had mysteriously escaped from their locked and charm-guarded cage.

Lupin had been Harry's last link to the past. A past in which four boys - ignorant of betrayal, death, grief, and imprisonment – ruled Hogwarts with their pranks and their friendship. And Harry mourned him as he had mourned Sirius, and Fred, and Hedwig, and Mad-Eye, and Tonks, and a love he was sure had endured death. A love that had produced a child that lay in his seventeen year old arms and waited, eerily silent. Waited for a choice to be made.

**A/N: When I read that line about Remus and Tonks, my insides seemed to freeze. They were my favorite characters, and it's supremely unfair that they were killed just after they'd worked everything out. This is for them, and I hope I have enough discipline to finish it.**


End file.
